Perhaps... it's a hard sell though, I would have to go back to the store and lay down another $100, and likely another $100 on top of that for a better power supply (I meet the min. requirement but it advises higher).

$200+ more dollars makes it $600, and I don't think it is worth that much money for the performance increase. My GTX 275 is basically a 280, and that is still a damn fine card that maxes every game, just not with the special nVidia effects or forced AA sometimes. I think a second 275 would take on that AA or Physx load, would it not? And for only $200 more, instead of $600.

Or I might just get the Wii I have been looking at and wait on any upgrade until early next year.

__________________I gots one of them high powered gaming computers with an EVGA GTX 480 video thingy and a Q9550 processing device and also one of them Windows 7 64 operating programs with 4GB of some Corsair 1033 DDR2 ram.

So I switched back to my GTX 275 and ran the same tests I ran with the 5870 this morning.

Only two games lose fps on the GTX 275, Battlefield Bad Company 2 and Just Cause 2. Just Cause 2 lost about 10fps, but since it runs at 70-80fps anyway I hardly consider it a loss. BC2 is the major factor with the card, as it runs at 30-40fps almost no matter what on the 275, but was getting 50+ on the 5870... it was in the ads on ati.com as well, so I assume them working with Dice is a factor here.

Several games ran BETTER on the 275... Fallout 3, GTA4, Blur, Farcry 2 and more.

5870 can kiss my ass.

This is so off topic though, so... apologies.

__________________I gots one of them high powered gaming computers with an EVGA GTX 480 video thingy and a Q9550 processing device and also one of them Windows 7 64 operating programs with 4GB of some Corsair 1033 DDR2 ram.

So I switched back to my GTX 275 and ran the same tests I ran with the 5870 this morning.

Only two games lose fps on the GTX 275, Battlefield Bad Company 2 and Just Cause 2. Just Cause 2 lost about 10fps, but since it runs at 70-80fps anyway I hardly consider it a loss. BC2 is the major factor with the card, as it runs at 30-40fps almost no matter what on the 275, but was getting 50+ on the 5870... it was in the ads on ati.com as well, so I assume them working with Dice is a factor here.

Several games ran BETTER on the 275... Fallout 3, GTA4, Blur, Farcry 2 and more.

5870 can kiss my ass.

This is so off topic though, so... apologies.

With BF BC2 are you forcing DX10 on the HD5870 though? Otherwise you are comparing DX11 to DX10 and we all know there is a decent hit from DX11 in BF BC2. Try forcing DX10 on the HD5870 and compare them.

Also, wondering if your CPU is limiting the GPUs. My HD5870 smoked my overclocked GTX 280 but my Q9550 was at 4.1Ghz, then I moved to this I7 @ 4.2Ghz so my CPU has never been a bottleneck.

It's a rather standard Antec case... big black thing. The 4 fans are one on the side, one on top and two in front. The one on the side blows right on the GPU.

As for my CPU, no, I run everything stock. It's a good CPU though, everything I read tells me I would gain next to nothing in games by upgrading to a low level i7. If you mean that I need an extreme $800 processor to get anything out of a 5870 then I guess I would say I will not upgrade to one, or a 480, as I cannot do a complete PC overhaul right now financially.

If that is the case, would I still get anything from a second GTX 275?

Thats not true, an i7 would give you quite a boost. 30-40+ fps boost is a double what you are getting now. A Q9550 at stock will be a bottleneck to high end GPUs. A Gtx 480 would be a waste of money with a Q9550 @ stock speeds. Wouldn't be any better than the experience you had with the 5870.

Legion hardware has done multiple CPU scaling articles and its been proven that I7 is faster. Overclocking does affect minimum and avg FPS alot too.

If the Q9550 is limiting it that is just another reason not to upgrade yet, because I am not going to overclock it. Those charts do show a nice difference between the Q6600 and the i7s, but I have a 9550 which is a LOT better processor than the 6600. I remember when i7 came out and Tom's and everyone else basically said there was no reason to upgrade for gaming if you had a 9550 or above unless you could get the high-end extreme version, which I could never afford.

And I know Crysis and Battlefield BC2 are big winners on the 5870, I said that before. The problem is I noticed no major increases in games other than those. Several ran worse, which I doubt is a bottleneck problem.

__________________I gots one of them high powered gaming computers with an EVGA GTX 480 video thingy and a Q9550 processing device and also one of them Windows 7 64 operating programs with 4GB of some Corsair 1033 DDR2 ram.

I remember when i7 came out and Tom's and everyone else basically said there was no reason to upgrade for gaming if you had a 9550 or above unless you could get the high-end extreme version, which I could never afford..

I got the gtx480 but I don't understand why the card is idling at near 80c with 2 monitors. I see that it's "normal" and that other people get it but come on! 1 monitor - 50c, 2 monitor - 75-80c! Never had this with my ati card.